High Seas Series: The Wilson O'Toole

The rest of the rescues came at a more sedate pace, many were injured and moved with difficulty. When the teens saw them, they jumped up from the table and assisted the hurt children to sit in the places they had been occupying and then, they sat beside a hurt child and helped him or her in eating what they wanted, even cutting it up so the child could eat it comfortably. It would not be long before they were being called, "The Band of Big Brothers"! The Band of Big Brothers would be around O'Toole House for many years into the future!

Twenty teen boys formed an organization they called "THE BAND OF BIG BROTHERS", which, of course, got shortened to "BIG BROS" and finally to the BB's. The BB's were everywhere, they organized games for the smaller children, they escorted their younger brothers and sisters to the Hospital if they had an appointment and they set aside the evenings, where they would read storybooks to the younger ones.

It was not at all unusual to see four or five separate groups in different rooms all being read different stories. For most of them, it was the Big Brothers' first chance at "payback" for their own rescue.

There were a few brave enough to dress for surgery so that their own, special Big Bro was the last face a child saw as he or she went under and the first face when they awoke. The BB's considered it a "Labor of Love" and many teens would guide their little brothers or sisters all the way to adulthood.

What no one realized was that some of the Little Brothers were being turned into Big Brothers and that they took it seriously, very seriously. A young boy, Jose Ramos, wandered away one morning. He was an adventurous little boy and, as his wounds healed, he was frequently seen walking the smooth, white sand beaches west of Lihue.

One Saturday morning, it was discovered that Jose was not at lunch and his Big Brother, Juan Almosa went into a panic! Juan called for help and the search was on.

Little Jose spoke almost no English yet and he stuttered so badly, few could understand him, even in his native Spanish. Juan was one of those few and he knew why his little brother stuttered and he feared something had set the little boy off and that he had run away.

In a matter of minutes, a dozen teen boys were tracking Jose. They saw his tracks in the soft sand, he appeared to be heading for the Huleai River, the only river in all of Hawaii.

They tracked him as far as the Menehune Fish Pond, where they lost his tracks in the underbrush. While they were circling around, looking to find the trail of the young boy, another twenty Big Brothers showed up to assist in the search.

They pushed the search further into the uninhabited area of Kauai Island, They were forced to abandon the river as it raced through the gorge and they circled around the gorge and came out at the tiny village of Puhi.

They came upon an elderly lady, who said she had seen a small boy and called to him, but he continued and she was unable to catch up with him. When asked which direction the child had been going, she pointed towards where Kauai Garden Nursery and Landscaping had their plantation and plant nurseries.

The Brothers took off and set a fast pace, the afternoon sun was dipping towards evening and they all knew that the dark would frighten young Jose. There were no wild animals large enough to threaten even a young boy, but there were large feral pigs that could be a bit dangerous, especially if it were a sow with piglets.

Fortunately, there were no snakes of any kind on any of the Islands of Hawaii, so, unlike his native land of Guatemala, Jose would not be faced with any dangerous animals or snakes.

As they came up on the plantation, there were some workers out cultivating and weeding the rows of tropical plants being raised there for sale. When asked about a small lost boy, the workers pointed to a pickup truck and there, they discovered Jose sleeping on a pile of empty burlap sacks, he looked totally worn out.

It was obvious he had been crying, there were tear streaks down his face. Juan leaped into the bed of the small truck and gathered his young friend up in his arms, like a father would, and hugged him. Jose began to scream in fear and flung his arms around wildly until the startled child saw that his "attacker" was Juan and he put a hammerlock around Juan's neck and would not let go.

Around his tears, the little boy told them that he was so scared and didn't know how to go back home. The nice men let him rest in their truck and they told him they would take him back to the plantation ranch house at the end of the day.

Juan just hugged the small boy even tighter and caught himself calling the child, "Mi Hijo", My Son! Juan wondered if it was possible, he saw some of the other boys had young boys who called them "Papa". He made up his mind he was going to talk to Señor Andi just as soon as they got back to O'Toole House!

Tim Peters had picked up a hand held radio as he left with the group of Big Brothers to follow Jose and Juan, so he radioed back that they had found both boys. Andrew answered the call and told them to just wait right there, it would take him about an hour to get the truck up the mountain to rescue them.

An older lady, who said she was Mrs. Jeffers, the wife of the Plantation Manager, brought out fresh baked cookies and several frosty pitchers of cold milk for the boys. When Andy came racing into the Plantation yard in the panel truck, Jose was asleep on Juan's lap, a gentle smile on his face, along with a milk mustache.

Andy simply looked at Juan and Jose, and knew without anyone telling him, just what was going on. He was going to have to get the lawyers busy right away, Juan was only seventeen years old! Andy had fought those battles before and he knew just whose "buttons" could be pushed to make Jose the son of Juan Patrick O'Toole!

Juan had come from a culture that severely frowned upon boy and boy relations and he was just a bit frightened at how little Jose was clinging to him and he worried about what "people" would say. Even though Señor Andi assured him that it would be "OK", he worried all the way to the Boy Hotel, where Señor Andi told him they could stay the special Family Quarters in the brand new Block Three of the Hotel.

Jose slept the entire way back to O'Toole House and did not wake up until Juan was carrying him up to their new rooms. All the way up to the top floor, teen boys AND girls congratulated both boys and some of the girls insisted on giving little Jose a kiss on the forehead!

By the time they got to their new rooms, Jose's face was as red as a shiny apple and he snuggled deeper into his new Papa's arms.

It was a relationship made in Heaven, the two boys settled down into family life and they started a chain reaction, within a month, there was a dozen new budding families started and Andy was worried that he would not have sufficient Family Rooms to house them all.

A few very short years later, when it came time for Juan to go to college, he chose to go to the new Kauai Extension of the University of Hawaii, from which he would graduate with honors four years later as an Elementary School Teacher specializing in teaching "exceptional" children! By that time, he had become a Big Brother himself.

By the time little Jose entered High School, he was not so little any longer, he was standing well over six feet, and he looked like he could wrestle water buffalos. By the time he finished his Senior Year at Kauai High School, not-so-little Jose would tip the scales at 280 pounds and was in the first draft for the team when he went on to University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

The next summer, when school was out, the Government of Ecuador collapsed and the entire country was sinking fast into a quagmire of anarchy. The United States Government was totally occupied in problems in the Middle East again and there was nothing they could do to help the people of Ecuador.

Ecuador was not a major trading partner for the United States and, over the years, relations between the two countries had been cool at best. That did not mean the Americans thought the country was "worthless". It was just that their resources were stretched thin and they would have to ask their friends within the O'Toole Family to act as their surrogates.

Patrick's old friends in the Navy Department pled with him to "DO SOMETHING"! Even as he was asking them just what did they expect him to do about the situation, he knew that he just had to do SOMETHING! It was a case that he just could not do nothing!

Even before he put the telephone down, the huge siren on top of O'Toole House was blowing and Boy Crews and Ship Crews were shoving clean clothes into their duffels and heading for the piers!

Min Tangimora's wife, Alice Tangimora, had her staff break out the new clothes she had ordered for the boys to begin school the next year. Their old clothes were already "high water" and showing the wear that only active boys could give even the best of clothing,

They decided that the poor old Mary Joyce was too old and too slow for this operation and her repairs were not yet completed from the last operation she had participated in. They would take the Wilson O'Toole, the Patrick O'Toole, the Joseph O'Toole and their newest ship, The Adonis, which they had renamed, the S/S BIG BROTHERS.

The ship was fresh out of the Dillingham Yards and she had been completely rebuilt. She was a geared turbine drive ship and, should push come to shove, was capable of a sustained 26 knots!

The former Adonis was the largest of their fleet, she had started out life a C-2 freighter and was capable of making 28 knots at "FLANK", fully loaded. It had been the largest ship modernization job the Dillingham Yards had ever attempted and it turned out beautifully.

They had the ship completely rebuilt and painted their own colors, white superstructure and dark blue hull with a red stack. As a Hospital Ship and Rescue Ship, the BIG BROTHERS could not be armed, but she had an armor plated, reinforced hull and her speed was her best protection.

Unlike their other ships, the BIG BROTHERS was a steam ship and, fortunately, Trong O'Toole's Chief Engineer license covered both steam and motor vessels!

Patrick decided he would Captain the new ship and Trong O'Toole would be her Chief Engineer, as well as serve as the Fleet Engineer! Dr. Pedro Robbins was to serve as Medical Director and Jowto O'Toole would he Hospitality manager. There was no way Jowto could ever be separated from Trong!

They all speculated they would also need The Wilson O'Toole, as it also had a large hospital on board, along with living space for 200 boys and 50 girls and was legally armed with a big three inch gun and machine gun and rocket launchers all over the ship.

Little Kee's Daddy, Big Kee was semi-retired, but he slept in the spare bunk in Little Kee's stateroom and was on hand every time Little Kee was called out. Little Kee was no fool, he valued his Papa's advice and listen very carefully every time Big Kee spoke about the problem "at hand"!

"Little Kee" was now the Fleet Gunner, after graduating from the University "summa cum laude" with a dual degree, one in Electrical Engineering and the other in Mechanical Engineering. When he sat for his license upgrade to Chief Engineer, he was careful not to laugh at the questions on the exam!

The Big Brothers had three complete operating suites and space for five hundred recovering patients. It also had hotel space for another five hundred "guests" and for fifty prisoners in a large brig!

They would use the Patrick O'Toole as a "gofer" and it also had a small sickbay on board to care for those they rescued.

When Patrick brought the BIG BROTHERS home with him and blew the huge steam horn for the first time, it brought the entire population of Kauai running for Nawilwili Harbor. The sound rattled windows and shook small homes all over the island.

The local population had wondered why the O'Tooles had the channel dredged deeper and the new pier extended even further out into the bay. Even at that, when the BIG BROTHERS tied up, everything aft of the stack hung out into the bay!

The local population was invited on board for a "look-see" and, when the pictures hit Honolulu newspapers, there was a steady stream of men and women on the next flight to Kauai, all hoping for a job on the new ship!

Most of the applicants were ex-Navy or Coast Guard, but Retired Gunny Paul Adamson, who had served the O'Tooles while a very young Marine Corps Private in the Far East, led twenty ex-Marines to Nawiliwili Harbor for a meeting with Captain Patrick O'Toole.

Pat felt like he had been steamrollered, he found himself saying, "Yessir" to the huge man that Paul Adamson had become. It didn't hurt that Paul had earned a college degree in International Relations and all his squad members had college degrees also! Two of them were qualified Registered Male Nurse/Medics and three more had retired as CIA or ONI agents!

The Engine Room was staffed with ex-Navy or Coastie Engineers and the Deck Crew was entirely ex-Navy! All he had to look for was one lonely Third Mate and the cooks and laundrymen. Those positions were all filled by the next morning!

The Third mate was Juan Almoso and his son, Jose, now well over six and a half feet tall and arms like anchor cables, came tagging along. Pat didn't dare say "NO" to either of them! Juan had not yet completed his studies at the University, but there was no way he was going to miss the maiden voyage of the BIG BROTHERS, he WAS ONE! Juan had gotten his Third Mate's ticket while serving on the Wilson, so Pat knew exactly what the young man's qualifications were!

It took them two weeks to finish outfitting the BIG BROTHERS, Doctor Pedro Robbins had the equipment he had ordered, flown in from the mainland and set up the Hospital and Medical Wards. Much of it was donations he had arranged and he never got any bills for the rest of it.

The hospital was equipped with all the latest computer controlled X-Ray and diagnostic equipment and there was even a small dental department, complete with two dentists!

Visitors to the ship wondered at why they had such a large Medical Department, but those who had sailed with the O'Tooles all knew why and they never even batted their eyes when they saw a small Maternity Ward being set up!

Many of the boys begged to come and they all promised to keep up on their school classes. Pat didn't have the heart to say no and the Father-Son team of the two Almosas was seen moving mysterious boxes and large packages into locked compartments on the ship. They did not reveal what was in those boxes and packages until they were already out to sea. There were two movie projectors and a hundred complete movies in two versions, English and Spanish!

Patrick was astonished to learn that many of the crew of the BIG BROTHERS doubled as actors and singers in Juan and Jose's entertainment group. What he did not know was that they were all trained as spies and provocateurs also!

Visitors to the BIG BROTHERS noted that the ship was not armed and were told of her Hospital/Passenger ship status. They did note that all the ships' officers carried side arms clipped to their belts.

Juan, while tall and wiry, did not seem robust to most observers, but the crew had seen him in action before. There was not a single one among them who would have felt unsafe standing beside young Juan in combat! He knew more ways to kill a person than anyone else on the ship.

Little Jose Almosa did not carry a gun, but, if one looked closely, they would find at least a dozen VERY sharp knives secreted about his person. They knew that the young son of the Third Mate knew how to use every one of them in such horrible ways, they all had nightmares about his carving abilities!

Sailing day arrived with little fanfare and The Wilson let the small fleet out of Nawilili Harbor. They headed southeast, to the South American Coast at a brisk eighteen knots. That was the Wilson's most comfortable speed. The President of Ecuador and a few of his top officials had been smuggled out of the collapsed country and the American Coast Guard had gotten them to Kauai in time for the sailing.

Their presence was not made public and even the ships' crews did not know of their presence until they were two days out from Lihue. Pat was taking no chances of assassination!

Without The Mary Joyce, the fleet moved comfortably at eighteen knots good through the water. Their course was to take them directly to the loyalist held town of Esmeraldas, not too far from the border with Columbia. El Presidenté Jose Eduardo dos Santos was convinced that the revolutionist s were funded by the Columbian Government and he hoped to head them off at the pass"!

There were a few loyalist troops secreted away on the BIG BROTHERS, but Pat could not allow them to carry arms while on board. A few grumbled, but most understood the constraints that Pat was working under. They all knew that Pat did not dare let the status of Hospital Ship for the BIG BROTHERS be challenged. They were "nudging the fence", as it was, with the WILSON O'TOOLE!

At the speed they were making, the distance melted down rapidly and. almost before they were ready, the coastline of Ecuador came up on the radar screen Sr. dos Santos was an amateur yachtsman himself and he watched the radar screen daily, plotting with his advisors on how to contact the loyalists in Esmeraldas.

Juan and Jose had already solved that problem, they were going to sneak ashore with some of their entertainers and take up a job in one of the cantinas in Esmeraldas.

El Presidenté's cousin, a Señor Timoty González, owned a popular cantina and small hotel in the town and, before the telephone connection had been cut, arrangements had been made to accommodate the entertainment group at the hotel and provide a week's worth of entertainment as a cover.

Pat was as nervous as a cat in a wolf pack about the boys' safety, but he could think of no other way to smuggle the President and his followers into the town.

In practice, it proved fairly easy to smuggle the boys ashore and into the Hotel de dos Coconuts. The boys giggled over the connotations of the Hotel's name. But they went about their business of setting up as an entertainment troupe. They had costumes and enough of the boys had singing voices or could play musical instruments, that they caused some excitement in the town.

Their "opening night" the Cantina Oro was jam-packed and the boys did not make it to their beds until 3 am! They had completed their show at midnight, but demands for "ENCORE" kept them on the small stage for another three hours!

The town was starved for good entertainment since the revolution had cut them off from foreign entertainers. It didn't hurt that the boys WERE good and their lively routines held the attention of the audience while men were smuggled upstairs to confer with El Presidenté Eduardos.

The man was gratified that so many of his supporters had escaped roundup, however, Juan and Jose were both highly suspicious of several of them. Several of those who had met with the President were found the next day in the courtyard with their heads severed from the bodies. Neither Jose nor Juan would answer any questions about the matter!

They had been playing at the Cantina Oro for two weeks and Pat was getting nervous that the rebel authorities would soon be on to them. After the Saturday night performance, Juan and Jose were waiting in Pat's room with a sheaf of papers in their hands. They were printed playbills for Los Troubadores Nauticos to perform at Hotél Grimaldi in the town in Cojimies.

Juan whispered in Pat's ear, "There is a loyalist army of two thousand men waiting for El Presidenté at Estuario Cojimies. They wish us to take them to Isla Puna so they can take Guayaquil. That is where they will set up their provisional government.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening and whispered, "There is a large slave station at Bomba, we plan to take it and take all their slaves."

The look on both boys faces made Pat cringe and he said nothing. He was to learn later that both Juan and Jose had once been imprisoned in that place!

They sailed on the morning tide and headed back out to sea. Once over the horizon, so they could not be visually observed, the ships headed directly south, along the coast of Isla Puna.

It was not a long trip, the evening of the second night, Isla Puna was spotted on the radar. They would have to traverse a fairly narrow channel on the north side of the island, so Pat waited until the moon had set, before he nudged the BIG BROTHERS into the channel.

There was a fairly deep water anchorage just off Zapote where the BIG BROTHERS would have to anchor. It would not be safe to maneuver the large ship up the channel to Guayaquil.

Pat was uneasy about these arrangements and he did not like splitting up his forces. It was dark when they hit the narrows at Posorja. The small fleet inched its way inland until they reached the small bay at Bomba, where they planned to leave the WIL and the BIG BROTHERS.

Min commanded the Patrick and their small fleet of motorboats and fast boats they had collected over the last several years of operations against the slavers and smugglers. Even with that many boats, there was barely sufficient room for everyone.

Pat appointed Min to lead the attacking force, while he and 'Go held down the fort with the WIL and the BIG BROTHERS. Pat wanted a quick in and out operation and then get the Hell Outta Dodge! He was as nervous as a housecat at a meeting of the Dog Mafia!

Juan was upset when Jose insisted on going up river to attack Guayaquil. He did not completely trust El Presidenté dos Santos. Jose's face went beet red and he growled, "If El Presidenté screws with us, I will bounce his stupid head off his shoulders and use it to play bowls!" The young man whipped out a wicked looking knife from under his shirt, Pat stared at it, he could see a wicked edge on a long blade, about two feet long. He just shivered and said nothing!

Pat had no illusions that Jose knew how to use the knife and was willing to do so! He had watched the young man practice on straw dummies. He could dissect the practice dummies in three swipes of his short sword!

The cooks put out a meal, below decks so that no light shone on the decks of either the WIL or the BIG BROTHERS. The ashore party ate lightly and they talked quietly among themselves until it was time to head upstream.

Shortly after midnight, they heard the engines start up on the PATRICK and watched as twenty small boats, loaded with men and boys, headed upstream towards Guayaquil at dead slow, being towed by The Patrick. By the time the raiders rounded the first bend, those left behind could hear no sounds coming from the departing force.

Pat stood watch on the bridge of The BIG BROTHERS and Min did the same on The WILSON. Min had the guns manned on The WILSON and the big three inch gun manned and loaded, with the muzzle pointed upstream. Sufficient ammunition was sent up the Ammo Hoist to start a young war!

They then sat down and began the agonizing wait for their crews to return. Min almost wished that he had gone with The PATRICK O'TOOLE instead of staying onboard The WILSON.

Everything remained quiet throughout the night, they received a brief report from Juan just at daybreak that they had arrived at the outskirts of the town and everyone was safe. They kept radio traffic at a minimum, not knowing what capabilities the rebels had.

The wait during the next day was agonizing, both Min and Pat tried wearing a hole in the deck plates of their bridges, as they paced in frustration. Neither Pat nor Min was used to sitting back and letting others go in harm's way!

Moonset was at 10:32 PM that next night and, shortly before midnight there was a brief report from Juan. They could hear screaming and gunfire in the background and Jose's voice rang out clearly, "Got me another one!" It was a wonder that neither Captain did not bend the railings on their bridges, they were gripping them in their anxiety!

Shortly before dawn, they heard the engines of The PATRICK O'TOOLE screaming in overload and shots were heard clearly, with tracers being spotted over the tops of the trees that lined the waterway.

Both Min and Pat got underway and sat guard where the waterway dumped unto the bay. Their gun crews were on high alert as the PAT came roaring around the bend with a gaggle of small boats following her like little chicks. The early dawn sky was lit up with rockets as they blasted assay from The PAT's deck in a red, fiery glow.

As per plan, The PAT and the small boats headed for the lee side of The BIG BROTHERS and The WILSON. The three inch gun on the WILSON swung around and began tossing explosive rounds astern of the small boats.

The explosions lit their end of the bay up like full daylight and they saw several small tugs and some motorized barges chasing the small boat fleet. All those who were chasing the small boats were firing rifles and small arms and the small boat pilots were zig-zagging in an effort to spoil their aim.

Pat looked through the glasses and saw Boats laying the three inch gun, each time it fired, one of the tugs flew to pieces. He then turned his attention to the barges and they saw men jumping in the water to escape.

The splashes they heard were caiman, collecting the free lunch that was being served, Raw Rebels! It had been an ambush, the President was dead and his companions had disappeared in the melee.

The small boats all gathered at the accommodation of the BIG BROTHERS and the wounded boys were being rushed to the operating rooms. The Doctors were in crisis and the Medics stepped in to assist, the day had passed before the Operating Teams staggered out of the Hospital. They were exhausted and hollow-eyed and all were near tears. They had saved every wounded boy, but it had been a near thing!

Both Juan and Jose were the most severely injured, it would be months before either of them would be able to walk without crutches. Jose was the most severely injured and his promising Football Career was ended. The pin that Doc Ben had to insert into his ankle would never stand the strain of football again.

Even though they were both in wheelchairs, Juan and Jose insisted on visiting every wounded boy in the hospital! They held the boys' hands and spoke quietly to each one of them, there were many tears shed before two exhausted young men, a Father and his son, returned to Juan's stateroom.

Only Pat and the boys themselves ever knew what they had done in Guayaquil, there had always been a strong bond between the three men, but now it was such a strong bond, even death could not break it. They had confided in Pat and he lost his supper. He sat with Juan and Jose for hours, saying nothing, just holding their hands.

The raiders brought more than two hundred boys and girls and more than two dozen adults downstream with them. Fortunately, the youngsters had not been severely injured, but two of the adults died of their injuries and half the remaining adults would be handicapped for the rest of their lives with missing arms, legs and two had been blinded!

Pat got on the SSB and told everyone back in Lihue what had happened and that they were headed home, NOW! He had enough of political intrigue and it was NEVER going to happen again!

As soon as the Doctors gave the "OK", Patrick O'Toole led his small fleet back out to sea at dead slow, so they would not jostle anyone recovering from their injuries. Those who had died, they placed in metal coffins and stored them in the Morgue reefer for burial back home. None of their own had died, but the adults who had been killed would, at least, get a honorable burial among free people in a free land.

As soon as they were out of the territorial waters of Ecuador, Pat ordered the speed to be increased and they set course for Nawilili Harbor.

It will be a long and slow trip home, they would have to sort out those whom they had rescued and treat the injuries of their own folk who had risked their lives to support an aborted coupe. The rescued children were nothing new to those at O'Toole House, but this would be the first time they had rescued adults to care for.